I played drakengard 2 WAAAAYYYYY back, and enjoyed it somewhat, at least enough to beat it. Nier was a fun game, and the music made it outstanding. I also liked the concept of Kaine, especially the whole hermaphrodite stigma on her (it?). It was interesting, especially when you replayed the game and got the extra scenes regarding her. It tugged at the heartstrings, I don't care how much you gagged about her package. To get a new game with improvements upon both of these titles would be great.

I'm reposting this if only because it got updated with information and yet another pic. Apparently, the studio behind the game is the same team that brought us Deadly Premonition (which is ironic as that was the other surprise Xbox360 hit of 2010 along with Nier) and that the game is already 60% complete.

As someone who has never got into the Drakengard series or Nier but follow them online enjoying them somewhat is pretty shocking to me how excited people seem to be for D3...

I mean, I get the fascination and all but these are uninteresting/mediocre games with narratives that plays around with the expectation of the player. I hope that D3 actually ends up being at least a competent game even if fans don't seem to care much about that at this point.

"He said that Drakengard 3 is not Drakengard or Nier, and that it will probably betray your expectations, but he wants fans to look forward to how their expectations can be betrayed in a good way.

The producer follows up the comment with saying that finally they can announce a new Yoko Taro game world to fans.

For those who are familiar with how Yoko Taro games are, those statements basically mean "this game will not be what you expect, but it will be exactly what you expect from me", since the direction in the stories have always been doing what the player does not expect, and subverting expectations in a way which enhances the experience."

...that's not the real reason why Drakengard 1 is so memorable. No. Its the fact that both the narrative and the ascetics grow more and more grimdark/crazy until it hits full on batshit insanity. Its entirely a game about increasingly bad shit happening to bad people while everyone becomes more and more fucked over. In a way, it turns most JRPG plots onto their sides, since, as often happens in video games, the world starts off peaceful but grows ever more dangerous as the events in the game goes on, but with the caveat that unlike in those games, the hero doesn't magically save the day by beating the big bad, and in fact, doing so just makes matters worse.

.

Like I said earlier too; literally the "nicest" things in these games is the first two or so chapters, everything after gets dark, creepy, and various shades of disturbing. In that, it's unique, it's hardly a tale of "hope" like most RPGs try to pass along; sometimes even your best efforts aren't rewarded. Essentially, it's like looking at something gross: it's disturbing, but you can't look away. NieR had a similar effect: but it was more of just a well told and sad story. And I know I'm just repeating myself by this point, but the idea of making pacts with all your favorite mythological or fairy tale monsters in exchange for something you value is just cool (becoming awesome at the cost of something just feels more real than super-anime-magic-powers I guess), and the game has hack-n-slash elements that's a lot like Wednesday Addam's wonderfully bloody play.

Now I'm intrigued. Thanks for that summary, Dice and indirectly, Aeolus. I'm guessing the best place I should start is Nier? Even though that's not technically associated with the first two Drakengards?

If it helps, I had fun with it. I had more fun with the story though. :D

I'm just teasing. It just bums me out when I see one of the few games this gen that had a real spark of originality get dissed. :/

Like I said on page one, I couldn't get past Nier's shit controls. It's not like I'm just hating on it for the sake of it. At the end of the day it's a videogame, and if I can't enjoy playing it, it really doesn't matter how great the writing is. I won't be able to enjoy the experience even if I forced myself to play through it. It's not like I wasn't interested to see what happens, because I was. The soundtrack is also phenomenal and it's a frequent listen for me on my computer and even at work. But originality and ambition do not equate to good games for me. It's the same reason why some people will champion Alpha Protocol while I think it's an utter pile of shit since no matter how ambitious the game attempted to be, the gameplay and controls were garbage. I'll take a functional, run-of-the-mill, average-looking house over an ambitious, original, impressive-looking house that doesn't have working plumbing any day of the week.

I'll watch Drakengard 3 like I do every other game, but I am suspicious of it by default.

Parn, I don't get your beef with the controls. Don't get me wrong, Nier definitely wasn't perfect. I'd say the biggest issues were the reuse of environments, boring quests, and the combat was just way too easy. But the controls? The controls are bog standard. I don't recall ever having an issue with the controls, even when I first picked it up.

Yeah, me neither actually. THe only trouble I have with controls with most games though is camera being "inverse" or not. At the very least, I find I get use to most game controls even if they start as wonky.

Also, I should add. I think the BIGGER excitement in this is the return of the reputable staff, because being excited for Drakengard is sort of...an odd thing[?].

Parn, I don't get your beef with the controls. Don't get me wrong, Nier definitely wasn't perfect. I'd say the biggest issues were the reuse of environments, boring quests, and the combat was just way too easy. But the controls? The controls are bog standard. I don't recall ever having an issue with the controls, even when I first picked it up.

Bog standard? I guess. I can play something like Dragon's Dogma and get the same level of responsiveness I'd expect from Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden Black, or any other top tier action game. It doesn't even have to play at a frantic pace, as Dark Souls also has excellent controls. Nier is clunky, sloppy, and sluggish from start to finish.

It's much like how you can distinguish between a good platformer and a bad platformer. The bottom-most button on the right-side of a controller may make you jump in all platformers, but I'd argue that Little Big Planet's controls are mediocre at best versus say, Rayman: Origins or Super Mario Galaxy. Or if we want to talk about racing games, Sonic R on the Sega Saturn having abysmally awful controls versus Mario Kart on the SNES.

I stand firmly by my statement that Nier's controls are terrible. But then, I'm also pretty cutthroat when it comes to my gaming opinions.